best way to get your hands on a totaled truck??

[ChevLoRay]

I overheard one of the main guys at Street and Performance (in Mena, AR) say he buys them all day long for $500....engines, that is. Now, he may get a better price because he's in business, but it's gotta be a fair market price.

In Texas, vehicles at salvage yards fall into two categories....if I understood my ex-brother-in-law. His father-in-law had a yard at Cumbe. There was a "line" that marked the difference between the two. In front of "the line", and I believe it could be re-sold. Behind "the line", he had to send in the tags and registration to the State and it could only be scrapped or sold for parts.

My guess is that a vehicle that is totaled would go behind "the line" in a Texas wrecking yard and only be sold for parts....not as a whole vehicle. In Arkansas, vehicles can be sold that are totaled, but will only be licensed as a Salvage Title vehicle. There's some laundering done that creates a theoretically saleable vehicle with a "clean" title that had previously been a salvage title vehicle in Arkansas.

Used to be, back in the early 80's, there was a "business" called Car Locators. In theory, a person looking for a particular car would contact us and let us know what they wanted. A person wanting to sell a vehicle would pay us $20 to list their vehicle. Listings for either were submitted to the master vehicle locators. I got a call one day, when a party in a nearby city was looking for a specific year/model Cadillac. Didn't matter if it was burned, totaled, etc. So, I went to a friend who had a wrecker business and asked him about such a car. He informed me that it was probably someone with a stolen car that he was trying to make somewhat legitimate and that it could make me an accessory. So, I never did get back to the person who wanted the Caddy.

Good luck on your hunt.